Blog Posting #1 – Technology Assessments

Technology Assessments

Technology assessments are a vital component to schools and states being able to develop and teach 21^st century learners.  Teachers need to be assessed to see what their technology leadership knowledge and skills are and where they need improvement.  Once their technology leadership knowledge and skill level is determined professional development opportunitites can be developed and implemented.  Teachers should then be required to do madatory professional development in order to learn the skills they are lacking and how to integrate the technology effectively into their classrooms.   I have seen many professional development sessions go unattended because teachers do not want to take the time out of their busy schedules to attend.  If it is not madatory then the teachers who need it the most will be the ones who do not attend.   Without assessments districts and states would not know what the skills and abilities of their educators were.  They would not be able to put in place effective technology plans nor would they be able to determine if the educators they had were able to grasp and implement 21st century teaching skills.   Students need to be assessed to determine what their technology skills are so that teachers will know what they can expect the students to be able to do and what they need to teach them.  A technology lesson will not be very effective if the students do not know how to do what is being asked of them and the teacher does not know to teach the skill.  We also need to be able to determine if the students are meeting the state technology literacy goals that are in place. 

Some cons of technology assessment are that states and districts do not always use the same assessment from year to year.  When you do not have consistent reporting the data you gather is meaningless. When a state or district is starting out they may find they need to adjust the assessment but they cannot change it every year.  Another drawback to technology assessment is that teachers or students may not perform well on them due to reasons beyond their control.  Students who do not have technology access outside of school will most likely not perform as well as students who have access at home.  The same applies to teachers.  If your district is not able to provide you with adequate access then you should not be penalized for not incorporating technology into your classroom.

Overall, I believe that on going technology assessments are needed in order to help provide all stakeholders with information on where their state or school is, what they should be doing to advance to the next level, and to provide data for effective technology planning.